Complex Power Quality Problem Power System Engineering
Yields Simple Solutions Solutions
Switching Operation Transients; Lead to failures
The Problem
A metal-casting plant producing ductile iron castings for the automotive
industry suffered catastrophic shutdowns (figure 1) of both of its induction
melting furnaces. The furnace failures occurred within three days of
each other, shortly after the plant returned to production after Christmas
shutdown. After investigating the first failure, plant and utility personnel
assumed the cause of the first failure had been found. They resumed
the start-up procedure three days later, only to have an almost identical
failure of their backup furnace, causing another shutdown.
Plant engineers were concerned that recent changes in the electric
utility’s distribution system might have initiated the failures. The utility
denied any relationship between the changes and the failures. The
discussion reached an impasse. The plant shutdown continued for nearly
a week, while repairs were being completed, jeopardizing the plant’s just-
in-time status with its automotive customers.
Upon completion of repairs, plant personnel had to decide whether to
start up the newly repaired furnaces, thus risking another failure. If
production could not start, the plant faced the expense and delay of
shipping patterns to its overseas sister company, to make the necessary
castings. The Thursday after the second failure, the plant determined
that, if it could not restart by Sunday, the patterns would be shipped
overseas and customers notified of the pending delay. The prospect
shook the company to its CEO. At this point, with both furnaces shut Figure 1: This busbar,
down and three days before the deadline, the Square D Power System serving induction furnace
Engineering team was called in. power supplies, failed
catastrophically on twin
Square D Engineer’s testing pointed to switching transients associated furnaces during two
separate events.
with the metal-casting plant’s 12-kV power factor correction capacitor
banks as initiating the failures (figure 2). These capacitors had been
in service for over a year prior to the failures, but had been operated
in manual mode. Just before the Christmas shutdown, the capacitor
bank control was changed from manual to automatic. This meant that
the capacitors were switching periodically, whereas they had previously
remained online all the time. Failures were linked with transients created
by switching operations.
At Square D Power System Engineering’s recommendation, the capacitor
banks were turned off and locked out, and the plant returned to full
production before the Sunday deadline. The plant engineer kept the only
key to the capacitor lock on the dresser in his home!
The immediate crisis was averted, but the full extent of the problem
was unclear. In addition, the plant would need the capacitors online
by summer for voltage support and for power factor correction, so the
Make the most of your energySM
bank could not remain de-energized indefinitely. Additional analysis was
required, and its scope was broad: transients modeling, fuse testing,
busbar finite-element modeling, harmonics measurements and
simulation. The Square D Power System Engineering team was given the
assignment, and they found conclusive results.
Power System Engineering Solutions 1
Figure 2: This event waveform detail illustrates the high-
frequency transients measured during the weekend. The
culprit: switching of the plant’s power factor correction
capacitors.
Figure 3: Induction furnace fuse testing at Square D’s
High-Power Test Lab eliminated the current chop theory
Key Concepts and Terms Solution: Onsite Assessment, Followed by
Induction Furnace Power Converters - The In-Depth Modeling and Engineering Analysis
furnaces melt scrap iron attaining a temperature Square D Engineer’s onsite testing showed that high frequency transients
of 2600 degrees F. They operate by inducing were initiated each time the capacitors switched (figure 2). The transients
currents in the scrap by rapidly varying the were large enough to cause false turn-on and possible failure of the
magnetic field around the metal. The highly- induction furnace SCRs. The transients did not indicate problems with
fluctuating field is produced from a constant the vacuum switches; the problems were caused by the particular
frequency ac source through use of large configuration of the electrical distribution system.
electronic power converters. These
converters change 60-hertz ac voltage and At the end of the onsite testing, Square D Engineer’s formed a theory
current to dc then to 200 Hz ac, through silicon- about the failures:
controlled rectifiers, or SCRs. • Capacitor switching transients caused false turn-on of induction furnace
SCRs and a short-circuit through the converter’s dc bus.
The induction furnaces were served by twin • Fast-acting fuses blew to clear the short-circuit.
12-kV to 575-V transformers. The furnaces each • The fuse blowing event “chopped” current in the supplying transformer,
had an electrical capacity of 8 MW. AC power creating huge transient voltages across the busbars.
was delivered from transformers to the SCRs • Transient voltages were sufficient to jump the air gap between the
through large copper busbars. These busbars busbars and cabinet.
experienced the catastrophic failures shown in • Deficiencies in fuse coordination allowed the resulting short-circuit to
figure 1 (cover page). burn until the busbars separated.
Power Factor Correction Capacitors Additional engineering analysis, fuse testing, and computer modeling
Equipped With Vacuum Switches was required to test each phase of the theory.
The plant operated three 12-kV capacitor
banks for power factor control. These banks Fuse Testing at Square D High-Power Laboratory
were turned on or off with vacuum switches. Square D Engineers obtained fuses from the metal-casting plant to test
Square D Power System Engineering testing their response to high-current short circuits. The fuses were tested at
and analysis showed that the vacuum switches 39,525 peak amperes at the Square D high-power test lab. The results
initiated voltage transients each time the clearly eliminated the fast-acting fuses as the cause of the bus failures.
capacitors were turned on and sometimes when Voltage developed across the fuses was limited to only about 1,500
the banks were turned off. Vacuum switches are V (figure 3), much less than the 20,000 V required to jump the air gap
commonly used on capacitor banks and other between busbars and the furnace cabinet. The initial current chop theory
loads that require connection or disconnection was abandoned.
at high power levels.
2 Power System Engineering Solutions
Computer Modeling of Transients
Capacitor switching normally causes transients, but these transients
rarely cause catastrophic switchgear failures. Square D Power System
Engineering suspected that the plant’s electrical system was amplifying
transients due to its unusual response characteristics. The only way to
investigate this theory, short of turning capacitors on and off with the
induction furnaces energized and at risk of failure, was to model the
power system’s response to high frequency events.
This modeling was performed with the Alternative Transients Program
(ATP). The model included both the plant’s 12-kV capacitors, and the
utility’s four separate 34-kV capacitors, assessing the effects of all the
possible combinations of the seven banks.
Modeling showed that capacitor switching transients were severe enough
to cause false turn-on, or even failure, of the furnace SCRs. Further
analysis showed that the transients could be reduced by converting the
capacitors to harmonic filters with the addition of line reactors. In fact, the
capacitors had originally been selected to accommodate line reactors in
a harmonic filter arrangement. This proved useful, as the next Figure 4: Busbars were
section describes. modeled to determine if
they had moved during the
Measurements of Power System Harmonics disturbance events.
The process of converting ac power to dc and back to ac generates
harmonic currents. Power factor correction capacitors do not produce
harmonics, but can create conditions that worsen harmonics on the
power system. During the onsite assessment, Square D Engineers
learned that PowerLogic Circuit Monitors were located on the capacitor
circuits and were storing harmonic information. This data revealed that
Busbar
voltage distortion at the plant was slightly higher than the IEEE 519 Contact
recommended level of 5%. Although harmonics had not contributed to
the failures, voltage distortion levels were high enough to warrant
further action.
Capacitor modeling had shown that adding line reactors to the existing
capacitor banks reduced the magnitude of transients. Harmonic Faulted
measurements indicated that harmonic filters were required to meet IEEE Phases
519 recommendations. Converting the existing banks to harmonic filters
solved both the switching problem and reduced excessive harmonic
distortion levels as well.
Computer Modeling of Busbar Movement
The location of the busbar failures indicated that current had either
jumped the air gap between the busbars and cabinet, the busbar Figure 5: Modeling proved
structure had moved during the fault and touched the cabinet, or the that adjacent busbars had
busbars from different phases had touched during the event. Fuse testing touched due to short-circuit
eliminated the first theory. The Square D Advanced Technology and and inadequate bracing.
Analytics Group then performed computer modeling of the busbars to
determine if they moved or touched.
Fault currents flowing through busbars or wires create large mechanical
forces. These forces act to repel conductors on different phases. The
analysis work first required that a finite-element computer model of
the busbars be created (figure 4). This model was then analyzed to
determine the amount of mechanical force generated during various
kinds of faults. Once the mechanical forces were determined, the amount
of deflection, or movement, of the busbars could be predicted.
Figure 5 shows the results of the modeling. Clearly, mechanical forces
generated by the short-circuit current were sufficient to cause busbars to
touch. Once the busbars touched, the fault current flowed until busbars
burned in two.
Power System Engineering Solutions 3
Conclusions
As figure 6 shows, the final results of our extensive analysis revealed Figure 6: Analysis revealed a simple cause of the failures:
a simple cause of the failures: busbars were inadequately braced to busbars were inadequately braced to withstand the forces
withstand the forces generated during a short circuit. The short circuits generated during a short circuit
resulted from unintended SCR conduction due to capacitor switching
transients, but the short circuits would have caused little damage
if the busbars had been adequately braced.
Square D Engineers inspected the induction furnace repairs and found
that the furnace manufacturer had installed additional bus bracing after
the first failures, indicating that perhaps the vendor suspected the real
problem from the beginning.
In addition to the bus bracing, Square D Power System Engineers
recommended that the busbars be equipped with transient voltage
surge suppression devices. These devices limit the magnitude of voltage
transients and provide additional protection.
Finally, the power factor correction capacitors are being converted to
harmonic filters. This conversion helps to limit the magnitude of voltage
transients, and removes some of the harmonic currents produced by
the furnaces.
The benefits were significant:
• Eliminated cause of catastrophic failures that had cost $750,000 in
repair and restart
• Preserved the just-in-time status and saved millions in potential
lost sales
• Exonerated the electric utility, and improved plant and utility
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understanding of the intricacies of their shared power
system characteristics
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4 Power System
Document# Engineering Solutions
3000HO0828 10/08
